THE RED LILY, Lilium Philadelphicum, in SASKATCHEWAN
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NATURE LIBRARY PRAIRIE PHOENIX: THE RED LILY, Lilium philadelphicum, IN SASKATCHEWAN Bonnie J. Lawrence and Anna L. Leighton. 2005. Nature Saskatchewan Special Publication No. 25. 139 pp. 24.95 Can. Softcover 21.5 x 25.3 cm, (8.5 x 10 inches). As the culmination of more than a decade of direct study and the accumulation of in excess of a century of anecdotal and scientific literature, the book is an ecological treatise. It takes the reader from details of anatomical structure through phases of growth, and provides information on range, habitats, associated species and interactions with other components of the lily’s ecosystem. It is a treat to learn not only about the hidden secrets of the lily’s life history, but also about the habits of the animal life with which it shares space, both underneath the ground and above it. The photographs, illustrations and figures throughout the book are At first glance, the large format and superb, with the names of many of our plethora of photographs in this book well-known naturalists represented in lead one to believe that it might be what the photo credits, supporting and is commonly referred to as a “coffee enhancing the excellent material table” book, the kind that you can flip obtained by the authors. Is it any through idly as you converse with wonder that we can never tire of friends or watch the TV news. But seeking out the lilies every summer those books favor titillating the visual just to absorb a little of their beauty sense over providing an educational into our own souls? experience and this book definitely does not fit that category. Skimming Even in this day of computer spelling through the table of contents is enough and grammatical checks it is unusual to convince you that you are in for a to find a book as free of errors as this treat, a magical mixture of myth, fiction one. I noticed no spelling errors and and scientific facts presented with a in only a few places did I find the writing style that in places reads like wording awkward or wonder if another poetry. word might have been more fitting. I 63 (3). September 2005 159 chuckled over the description of a required when collecting seeds which township’s fabric as containing is in fact picking a part of the plant, a rectangles “1 mile wide and 2 miles contravention of the Act. Those who high” as definitely being the mind set collect and grow the seeds for sale as of a map user rather than someone a business are engaged in the carrying visualizing the survey on the ground out of their occupation, but private where wide and high have quite individuals who collect for their own definitely different meanings. The gardens are in contravention of the Act. quality of the text in this book speaks to the care and dedication of the I found only two errors in the book, authors. To produce a book that has and two others were pointed out to me. so little of which anyone can be critical On page 131 the scientific name for is a worthy achievement and this one Thorny Buffaloberry is given as is a true work of art. Shepherdia canadensis when it should be Shepherdia argentea. Similarly, The large format of the book does Chokecherry is not Prunus not lend itself to bedtime reading, and pensylvanica (Pincherry) but Prunus the arthritic might prefer a smaller virginiana. The suffix on the species page to the white space in the book, name for Little Bluestem should match but the page size does allow one to the genus name as Andropogon see in greater clarity the detail of the scoparius, formerly, and as images. I thought at first the alternate Schizachyrium scoparium, the color of the text was being used to pick currently accepted name. On page 132 out quotes, but that does not follow the kirigami illustrated instruction step through the whole book so perhaps it 3 states fold AC over to AB which is not was meant only to draw attention to quite correct and better expressed in certain passages. I puzzle over the the step 3, found in the text above. inference that the protection clause of the legislation was only added with the Published in the year of the 1981 Act, for I recall an overwhelming Saskatchewan Centennial in 2005, sense of guilt that I was breaking a this book is a fitting tribute to the law when trying to salvage lilies from provincial floral emblem. We must take the ditches of a road allowance being up the challenge of its final pages to upgraded in the mid-1960s. I see as ensure that this lily continues to thrive an avenue of research for someone in natural habitats throughout its range interested in genetics the observation and that its apparent expansion into that “Something to look for on hillsides boreal areas does not follow the frequented by butterflies is a greater pattern of the Greater Prairie Chicken, range of flower colour variation as a which expanded its range with result of extensive cross-pollination by settlement into Saskatchewan, but is these insects.” It would seem the now extirpated here. authors are not in favor of the legislation presented on page 130 in Reviewed by S. M. Lamont, Box 550, that, on page 135, the inference is that Raymore, SK SOA 3J0 only the landowner’s permission is 160 Blue Jay .